Please excuse my ignorance, but when I was checking out the H&R website, I saw TRAK + Wheel Spacers, in various sizes, for the MINI. What is the purpose of these spacers? They are a bit expensive.

 

These will increase track width. If you buy 5mm spacers the track width will increase by 10mm, for example.

It is appropriate to install spacers on the front wheels only if you are considering 5mm spacers. If you jump up to 15mm spacers for example, you should add the 5mm spacers to the rear.


Increasing front track will help to eliminate some understeer, help maintain front geometry via a larger swing arm, and rasie the roll center a bit - all good stuff. You may even notice more even tire wear.

Adding spacers at the rear will reduce, by a little, camber compensation...this may not be noticable when using stock 45mm offset wheels with a 5mm spacer.

YOU MUST PURCHASE THE LONGER STUDS WHEN PURCHASING SPACERS - DO NOT USE THE STOCK STUDS!!!

 

Doug,
I have 15mm H&R spacers on all four wheels of my car if you want to come by and see the spacers and how they change the track width.

 

Thanks for the lesson on spacers. I seems to me that you are spacing the wheels out further from the car. If this is so, wouldn't the tires then be further out and run the risk of the wheel arches contacting the top of the tire?

 

Yes.
My stock GP wheels have a 52mm offset so there was a lot of room between the tire and wheel arch. In general, you would want to buy wheels with the correct offset but in my case I wanted to keep the GP wheels but I also wanted to increase the track width for handling and looks. Thus, I had to add wheel spacers. Adding a 15mm spacer to my 52mm offset wheels is equivalent to wheels with a 37mm offset.
I run 215/40-18 tires. The front has no rubbing problems. The rear is not close to the actual wheel arch but does slightly rub (when suspension is compressed) on the plastic wheel well liner (up inside the wheel well).
Thus, you have to plan what size wheel spacers to use so you do not have a rubbing issue.

 

The other side of the coin is that you may need to add spacers to avoid having tires / wheel rub on the inside - depending upon the wheels you are using.

My 15x7.5 Rota Slipstreams need 3mm spacers in the rear to keep the wheel from contacting the rear trailing arm.

H&R spacers are high quality pieces. Some people say you don't need to spend premium money on spacers, but I'd rather be safe than sorry.

 

I have 38mm offset BBS wheels. My track set up inlcuded 15mm spacers up front and 5mm spacers at the rear; total offset in front was 23mm and in back 33mm. This track difference is simply the reverse of a mid engine car and will definately help remove some understeer without the use of a larger rear bar.

There ar always other considerations such as bearing wear, changes to camber, SAI etc. You can always buy wheels with a different offset as well...different front to back, but that is a more expensive option...a better one however, in my opinion.

Forgot to write wheel size - BBS RGR 17 x 7 - no rubbing problems, but my car wasn't lowered much more than an inch.

 

meb,
How did you manage to get no rubbing in the rear? On my previous 03 MCS I had the same BBS RGR 17x7 wheels with 215/40-17 tires and H&R springs (lowered about an inch) and I had rubbing in the rear without an extra 5mm spacer. It rubbed on the plastic inner wheel well when the suspension compressed. Maybe you were using 205/40 tires that provided a little more clearance.

 

Yes, 205/40/17...I should have included that information. The springs in the rear were also around 350 - 360 in/lbs...a little stiffer than stock, and the shocks were set pretty stiff.

At Lime Rock for example, I occasionally heard a little rubbing in exactly the same area you note while coming thru the down hill onto the straight...a bumpy turn - the ideal line was almost dangerously bumpy - combined with a fair amount of compression caused some rubbing.

The RA1 205/40/17 were an experiment; I was trying to gain some gearing advantage...anything gained was lost in the turns as this tire size was far from ideal in terms of pure cornering power.

The stock 205/45/17 tires - same offset - still had no rubbing issues, but these were never used on the track and therefore never placed in a position to rub.

Your tire size is about ideal, I think, for handling/cornering power. Mine were very, very squirmy!

 

Thanks for the tire size clarification.

 

I just installed the 25mm in the rear and it handles great in turns. also looks amazing. maybe i want 30mm haha would look even better.

 

Good stuff dustin. Very nice stance.

Are those stock wheels? I love stock wheels + spacers

 

Thank You very much! Yep they are stock wheels, I love the look of stock wheels pushed out on huge spacers and rubbing the wheelwell haha next i need coilovers and my stance will look fantastic

 

I made a big mistake above...increasing track width on the front axle increases understeer. Increasing track width on the rear axle increases overteer.

When roll resistance is increased up front we get more understeer. When roll resistance is increased in back we get more oversteer.

We also get a little more grip in either case when increasing track width.

Sorry about the above, I'm old! and I drink wine!

 

I have a 2011 Mini S and would like to put on spacers to increase width but I am un-sure how thick to go??